What a Day

Susan Pompa describes a day at the Special Education School in Ambato.



Our visit to the Special Education school ended in a spectacular ¨Show and Tell¨ session led by the teachers who participated in the Make and Take¨ Workshop all morning. Starting out on Friday, breaking into groups according to interest, CITTI Project Ambassadors met with teachers to discuss challenges the teachers face in the classroom regarding transition students, communication disorders, educational learning materials and outcomes, and assistive technology applications.


After assessing the needs of the teachers, we gathered together for a demonstration of products that CITTI Project brought along to share. With lots of enthusiasm, the teachers asked questions and gave scenarios of how they could possibly use these items in their classrooms. We promised to meet with them early in the morning for a comprehensive hands-on workshop where they could make items like we showed, and adapt items to even further meet their needs.

At the communication-visual strategies table, Mimi and Andrea led teachers of students who are non-verbal to show how to make communication boards, eye gazes, communication booklets, daily schedules, counting games and more to help increase communication between students, teachers, and each other. Armed with Velcro, scissors, and lots of clear plastic sheets, they were able to turn scraps into gems, points into choices, glances into words.


At the Educational Learning Materials table, Sonia, Maggie and Elissa led a team of teachers in making a number of ¨Shoebox Tasks. Thanks to Gladys´s collection of 50 shoe boxes, the teachers went to town on color sorting, shapes, numbers and word activities, to accommodate students with a wide variety of abilities and disabilities.


In the center of the room, Stacey and Lynn held court with teachers interested in Occupational Therapy strategies to increase access for students in writing and computer activities, and activities related to daily living. Alternative ways to hold pens and utensils were introduced and reproduced . Teachers created trucks with crayons, gripper pens, a spoon with a hair band attached to the hand, and other items. A head wand on a hat was made to facilitate pointing, painting or typing on a keyboard for students who had limited or no hand or arm mobility.


The day wore on and the teachers enthusiasm spilled throughout the room, resulting in multiple creations, new designs, adapted versions of the items in the CITTI Project´s ¨Dog and Pony¨show (as we so fondly like to refer to it). Now here were, teachers, administrators, therapists, and generalists, gathered together to watch the big show. The show that would illustrate how the fruits of our collective labor accomplished what we set out to do -- teach the teacher and beyond!


As it turn out, each day we add new people to our collective mind. Today not only did we add the teachers and administrators of Ambato´s Special Education School, but the two babysitters we hired, who had no babies to tend to today, joined us enthusiastically in all of the activities, at all of the tables. They made their own creations: a communication board and an adapted book, and proudly presented it to the entire audience. Future teachers, with inclusion in mind--what more could we ask for from one days work?


Ah, let us not fool ourselves. Days, months, even years went before to build this structure--but today the cement was laid. (photo: group picture at the Special Education Institute of Ambato.)